The present invention relates to low depth, nestable trays for transporting and storing beverage containers, such as twelve-ounce aluminum cans and two-liter plastic bottles.
Cans for soft drinks, beer and other beverages are often stored and transported during the distribution stages thereof in short-walled cardboard trays or boxes. These cardboard trays are generally not rugged enough for reuse and therefore must be discarded by the retailer at his expense. They are flimsy and can collapse when wet. They also are unattractive and do not permit the full display, merchandising and advertising of the cans. Thus, there has been a need for a returnable and reusable tray for storing and transporting cans and the like. This tray should be light weight, easy to manipulate and carry, and economically constructed, since the non-reusable cardboard trays which it replaces cost generally less than a dime. An example of a relatively recent, returnable and reusable tray of the present assignee and particularly adapted for handling twenty-four twelve ounce, pull-top aluminum cans is that disclosed in the copending '039 and '399 applications.
When empty the reusable plastic trays of the '039 application are nestable one within the other so as to occupy less storage space and to be more easily handled. The trays are unfortunately nestable only to a small extent, perhaps one-quarter of their total height. In other words, each additional tray adds about three-quarters of the total tray height to the stack of empty trays. A large amount of storage space is thus needed for the empty trays, and the stack of trays can be rather tall and cumbersome. The sides of that tray are solid around their perimeter, and thus the lower portions of the cans or other containers held therein, especially when the loaded trays are stacked, are not exposed. This prevents the containers therein from being readily seen to both determine how full the trays are and also the container brand from its label.
Reusable plastic cases have also been developed for transporting and storing bottles such as two-liter beverage bottles. An example of a recent plastic, nesting and stacking storage container is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,955 of the present assignee. These cases often have a height which is greater than the height of the bottles contained therein such that when stacked the cases do not rest on top of the bottles in the lower case. Rather, the sides of the cases bear the loads of the upper cases and their contents. These cases are expensive to manufacture, to ship and to store empty as they are relatively large and occupy a great deal of space. Since they totally surround the bottles held therein, they prevent them from being fully displayed.
Plastic low depth cases have thus been developed wherein the side walls are lower than the height of the stored bottles. The bottles contained in a lower case thereby support the weight of the other cases stacked on top of them. Today's plastic, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), bottles have become particularly popular because of their transparency, light weight and low cost. Even though they are flexible, their walls are strong in tension and thus can safely contain the pressure of carbonated beverages therein. Their flexible walls can bear surprisingly high compressive loads as well, as long as these loads are applied axially. Thus, it is important that the bottles do not tip in their cases or trays, as the loads thereon when stacked would then not be along the longitudinal axes of the bottles, and the loaded bottles can thereby be caused to buckle. This is particularly true for the larger capacity PET bottles, such as the two-liter bottles widely used for soft drinks today. Thus, some of the prior art cases require additional structure therein to hold the bottles stable. Others have handles which must be removed in order to stack the empty cases, which is an inconvenient and time consuming step. Some of these low depth cases also have higher walls which reduce their display capabilities.
One commercially successful design of the stackable low depth cases particularly suitable for the two-liter PET bottles is the "Castle Crate" design of the present assignee, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,874, whose entire contents are hereby incorporated by reference. For this genre of cases a plurality of columns project upwardly from the bottom case portion and together with the side walls help define a plurality of bottle retaining pockets. This case with its internal columns, when empty, resembles a medieval castle. These columns are hollow to permit empty crates to stack top to bottom. These low-profile crate designs have spaced side columns to provide added strength and yet still expose the containers therein. This design though requires a certain registration of the empty crates for nesting purposes making the procedure a slight bit more cumbersome and time consuming than desirable.
Beverages in the twelve or sixteen ounce sizes are often sold, as in convenience stores, loose or individually, that is, not in an attached six-pack arrangement. To remove the bottles or cans from their six-pack (secondary) packaging, whether a shrink wrap, a cardboard enveloping cartonm or an interconnected plastic ring arrangement, is a labor intensive procedure.
Some of the known trays do not hold their beverage containers in a continuous spaced relation so that the containers rub against one another or crate structure while in transport. This action can rub off the container labels or scratch the containers, and is a particular problem for metal soft drink and beer cans.
Pull-top aluminum cans for soft drinks and other beverages are usually stored and transported in short-walled cardboard trays or in cardboard boxes. On the other hand, because of the ever increasing cost in disposable tertiary packaging, returnable, reusable containers are becoming popular for the storage and handling of bottles. However, unlike plastic or glass bottles which have rounded edges on their crown or top, pull-top aluminum cans have square sharp corners where the top of the can attaches to the side walls. Therefore, particular difficulties have been encountered in the stacking and manipulating of the trays of cans stacked relative to one another. In fact, aside from the '039 tray there are not prior known returnable, reusable trays suitable for supporting pull-top aluminum cans and which can, when filled with such cans, be stacked securely one on top of another, so that the top tray of a stack of filled trays can be easily pulled off and along the stack without being lifted. In other words, the trays should be constructed so that when loaded they can be easily pivoted and slid off of loaded trays beneath them without having to be lifted.